


Gives Me Hope

by LostInQueue



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe -Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Pictures, Subway, gives me hope, movie star, subway station, unsolicited pictures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26830888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostInQueue/pseuds/LostInQueue
Summary: Where Ben is a movie star who is always asked for his picture to be taken with fans and has peeves about it and a woman on a subway train changes everything.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 10
Kudos: 41





	Gives Me Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [msdes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/msdes/gifts).



> This is because of your tweet 😂

Taking pictures with fans… Ben Solo rationalized with himself, are and aren’t the worst times of his life. Sometimes it’s fine when he isn’t being stalked off set or at some fancy event he’d rather not be dressed for. Those times suck though, and he’s been known to force a smile just for the sake of not being outed on social media. 

Then again, his latest released images of him trying to fix his face mask for the hundredth time has him looking like a damn villain and all his fans are eating that right up. It’s not to say he isn’t surprised, what with all the fanart and fanfiction accounts he’s found over the years. If it means he stays relevant, great. All the more power to them. 

It’s just that… Some people just have no class.

In the past people have spit, literally spit, or choked if he can qualify “hacking one” by his feet as choking, to get a chance to weasel in for a photo. Or the worst are the ones that use their selfie stick over barriers into his personal life without actually asking for the photo. Those people, just about every actor has a few choice words for… but then there are the ones that just giggle and can’t come to terms with their native language before offering him the phone and that does crack him.

And finally, the one who seems to want one today has him wondering.

Since the Covid-19 scare, nearly no one stops him anymore. In a way, part of him misses it and maybe, just maybe it’s why he keeps sneaking a look. 

The woman is pretty. Dainty by the size difference between that of her leggings to extra large grey sweatshirt and white knitted scarf. He does notice her tiny feet by how much larger her no name brand slip on boots look in comparison to those legs… why can't he stop looking at those? 

Ben shakes his head trying desperately hard to stop but can’t. He has to know if she has a friendly face. Upon looking up he’s reminded of these damned times. He can't see her, not really, and that’s annoying. Instead he’s greeted with her choice Rolling Stones mask which sported a single open mouth logo, large enough to be her own mouth or at least sit where it would go, on a white cloth background, that hung neatly around her ears and bent carefully over her nose. It took a lot of focus for him to break that connection and look up at her eyes, catching only wisps of tendrils falling on either side of her matching knit hat. 

Unfortunately for him, her’s were waiting for his to find hers apparently, which flat out made him jump backwards in his seat. She holds her phone carefully, tapping buttons and he can’t help but feel like he’s getting his picture taken when she finally rotates the phone from upright to laying on an angle, then angles it up high above him, making him want to turn and check. Turning and checking though would make him look like a creep and Ben did not want to be a creep. 

Still, before he can stop himself, his annoyed presence fills the space asking, “That’s it then?”

The woman says nothing, studying the picture as if he hadn’t spoken at all, clearly entranced with the thing. 

Ben can’t let this go now, and he knows if she’s going to ignore him, he may as well know why. 

“Excuse me, Miss,” he says gruffly. 

“Oh, sorry. I’ll be out of your way then,” she replies, nodding for him to get towards the doors while the subway train prepares itself for the next stop. 

“No, not that,” Ben said, waving his finger between him and her phone. “You don’t want a picture with me?” 

The woman looks at him oddly, her bow bending in thought before she speaks and he wonders if he should have just shut up and done the same. 

“You don’t know me, do you?” Ben sighed at her blank stare. “Never mind I said anything,” he huffed before wishing her a good day. 

“Do you want a picture with me?” she asked carefully, her voice sounded careful and sweet, but Ben’s brow still wrinkled in thought.

Did she just ask me if I wanted a picture with her?

As odd as it sounded, truthfully, after being denied one, or feeling like he had been, his answer was yes.

It was nice to see how she brought out her phone and offered him a space next to her as if they were long lost friends. It was the first time in a long time he felt free. This woman just happened to lighten his load with a hidden smile, taking pictures with him in a time that many would not, and for that he’s truly thankful. 

But the moment he’d tried to thank her, she’d let go. 

When he realized where she’d gone, it had only been a couple steps behind where they stood, chatting sweetly with an old lady who she also took a picture with. Then there was a kid with a chocolate bar in hand and he watched as she folded herself up onto her knees in a chair, her sweatshirt covering the majority of her body and the scarf acting like a wrapper, he freaking got the reference before the kid did, and of course blurted out what she was, gaining all types of looks from riders. 

It was for the kid to guess, he knows, but something about her gave him a little more excitement in his life where there wasn’t before. 

And a blink later, she was gone. 

She’d gotten off the train, stopping to take putties with other random strangers and all he could think of was that he was being made fun of in some twisted way…but then he moved to follow her. Yes, he had to battle his conscience to just let it go, but now he just had to know. Was she messing with him or what?

His steps speed up the ease of his saunter which brings more attention to him than he’d like but he’s thankful that no one stops him for his damn photo now. By the time he catches up with her, his question hides quietly behind his tongue. The woman turns and smiles at him asking if he, too, would like a picture. 

“What?” Ben asks, bewildered all over again. “No! I want to know why you’re doing it… with all these people. Don’t I matter to you? And who are they? Why do they matter to you too?”

Gods he felt like such an ass. He was no one to this lady and still he pressed her like he was. 

“Of course you do. You matter, just like I do, just like they do, sir,” she said with respect. 

“Ben,” he corrects her with his name. “I’m Ben Solo.”

“Well, Mr. Solo,” she replied, unaware of his fame and fortune. “What do you say about randomly taking pictures with these great folks?” 

He watched her arms spread to the sides of her cheerily, not with one ounce of sarcasm. 

“And why would we do that, Ms.?”

“Rey Niima,” she said with a smile, “Because it gives me hope, to answer your question… and it looks like you could use some too.”


End file.
